Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/385

 BETWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 343 more pedantic, he had refused to address the chap. French sovereign in the accustomed form. He xv " would call him his 'good friend,' but no earthly power should make him add the word ' brother.' The taunting society of Petersburg amused itself with the amputated phrase, and loved to call the ruler of France their 'good friend.' The new Emperor chafed at this, for his vanity was hurt; but he abided his time. At length, nay so early as the 28th of January The French 1S53, the Trench Emperor perceived that his gchanefor measures had effectually roused the Czar's hos- tiTconcwa tility to the Sultan, and he instantly proposed to Powers by England that the two Powers should act together Kngiami in extinguishing the flames which he himself had separate • ■ flllifincc just kindled, and should endeavour to come to with him. • • . i, • • , self - a joint understanding, with a view to resist the ambition of Piussia, Knowing beforehand what the policy of England was, he all at once adopted it, and proposed it to our Government in the very terms always used by English statesmen. He took, as it were, an ' old copy ' of the first English Speech from the Throne which came to his hand, and, following its words, declared that the first object should be to ' preserve the integrity of the ' Ottoman Empire.' * From that moment until the summer of 1855, and perhaps even down to a still later period, he did not once swerve from the great scheme of forming and maintaining an offen- sive alliance with England against the Czar, and to that object he subordinated all other considera-
 * 'Eastern Papers,' part i. p. 68.